Florida Engineering Society (FES) has awarded ECON the 2012 Project of the Year for LEGOLAND Florida

Lakeland, Florida: Feb 23, 2012.
The Ridge Chapter of the Florida Engineering Society (FES) has awarded ECON the 2012 Project of the Year for their Design Engineering, Surveying and Permitting work at LEGOLAND® Florida, owned by Merlin Entertainment. With its opening in October of 2011, LEGOLAND® Florida is a 150-acre, full-day family theme park designed specifically for families with children ages 2 to 12.
LEGOLAND Florida is the second park in the United States; the other is LEGO-LAND® California in Carlsbad, which opened in 1999.

“We are pleased to see this landmark project recognized and were proud to be part of it,” said John C. McVay, Jr., CEO of ECON. “Legoland represents far more than an entertainment and recreational destination only. The opening of the park signifies the birth of a new cultural and economic vision for not only the City of Winter Haven, but the entire Ridge.”

The project started in January of 2011 and opened for business on time in October of that same year. ECON had responsibility for the analysis of traffic and the impact of the park on the local city, county and state roadway network. ECON coordinated with the project’s architects and contractors to ensure effective alignment of their designs with site factors related to parking, access ways
and utilities. In particular, ECON performed an as-built survey on the existing 165 Acre Cypress Gardens Theme Park and in order to evaluate the utility systems to determine which areas of the drainage, wastewater and water systems could be utilized for the new Legoland Park.

ECON also carried out construction layout and inspections during the building process in order to assure the project was constructed in accordance with evolving plans, permits and construction layouts while remaining within the 100 million dollar budget. ECON redesigned and permitted the modifications to each system as needed in order to meet the demands of the architects, planners and representatives of Legoland Florida during the design-build phase. ECON worked with Polk County, FDOT and the City of Winter Haven on Traffic Flows, Intersection improvements, Fire Marshall, EMS and visitor access to the park. The project was planned, designed, permitted on a fast track schedule which made it possible to meet the 120 day opening deadline.